Facebook Data Transfers to U.S. Face Probe After EU Court Ruling
Facebook Data Transfers to U.S. Face Probe After EU Court
Ruling
By Stephanie Bodoni
Dara Doyle
October 20, 2015 — 5:02 AM PDT
Ireland will investigate a complaint about U.S. spies
potentially accessing Facebook Inc. users’ private details after the European
Union’s highest court overturned a trans-Atlantic pact that allowed the free
flow of such data 15 years ago.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner agreed to probe
the complaint by Austrian law student Max Schrems following the landmark Oct. 6
ruling by the EU Court of Justice, Paul Anthony McDermott, a lawyer for the
authority, said in a Dublin court on Tuesday. The Irish data watchdog’s initial
refusal to examine the complaint triggered the EU court case, which led to the
banning of the so-called safe-harbor accord, struck between the EU and U.S. in
2000.
That original decision “must now fall” and the Irish
regulator “must investigate,” McDermott said. He said the probe wouldn’t be
delayed.
The EU’s top court based in Luxembourg focused on the
validity of the data-sharing accord in the light of revelations by former
National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about U.S. government surveillance
activities and mass data collection. Last year, an Irish judge asked the top EU
court to decide on key points in the Schrems case -- seeking guidance on
whether the safe harbor still protects privacy and whether national regulators
have the power to suspend illegal data flows from the EU to the U.S.
Fully Compliant
Facebook’s lawyer Rossa Fanning said in court the company
is fully compliant with Irish and EU law and will be involved in the Irish
authority’s investigation.
“Facebook is not and has never been part of any program
to give the U.S. government direct access to our servers,” the company said in
a separate e-mailed statement. “We will respond to enquiries from the Irish
Data Protection Commission as they examine the protections for the transfer of
personal data under applicable law."
The Irish case comes alongside parallel litigation in
Vienna, where Schrems sought a class action against Facebook, alleging the
company violated European privacy rules with its data policy by complying with
the U.S. NSA’s Prism program, under which companies turned over user data to
the government.
In June, a Vienna court rejected the class action.
Facebook said the appeal by Schrems was also overturned with a decision saying
he can’t pursue litigation on behalf of others in court. The social network
said that “litigation was unnecessary.”
Filed 22 Complaints
This month’s decision at the top EU court gives teeth to
Schrems’s actions in Ireland, because Facebook has its European base in the
country and the Irish privacy commissioner is the one in charge of the company
in the region.
Schrems alleged that Facebook’s Irish unit illegally
handed over data to U.S. spies. He had previously filed 22 complaints against
the company.
Facebook, like other tech giants, have been reeling from
the effects of the Snowden revelations in 2013. The companies have been trying
to assure their users or customers that their products are secure and that they
don’t willingly turn over data to the U.S. government.
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